Bourbonnais Tax Associates LLC

05/21/2026

The IRS charged a lot of people penalties and interest during COVID. A federal court just said those charges may not have been legal.

Three things you need to understand before July 10th - and one of them involves a change to USPS postmark rules that almost nobody knows about.

05/14/2026

Bonus depreciation is back at 100%.

Which means the cost segregation pitch is everywhere right now. And most of the people selling these studies aren't asking the most important question first.

New Three Things Thursday — three things about cost seg you probably weren't told:

1️⃣ The strategy is legitimate. Your tax situation might not be. Accelerated depreciation only helps you if you can actually deploy the losses. The passive activity rules determine that — and if you're above the income thresholds with no path to non-passive treatment, you just paid for a study that generated suspended losses you may never use.

2️⃣ Online instant cost seg tools are not engineering studies. The IRS Audit Technique Guide was updated in 2025. The AmeriSouth case is now cited 21 times in that guide — nearly as many as the landmark HCA case that set the original standard. IRS examiners are using it. Online tools have no engineering basis and nobody to defend the work.

3️⃣ The exit math matters. Unrecaptured Section 1250 gain waits at the sale at 25%. Your hold period, your tax bracket at exit, whether a 1031 is in the plan — all of it has to be modeled before cost seg makes sense. A 1031 defers the recapture. It doesn't make it disappear.

If someone's pitching you on cost seg right now, watch this first.

▶️ Watch the video here.

04/17/2026

If your rental real estate is throwing off losses you can't seem to use - you're not doing something wrong.

You may just be caught in a trap most investors don't know exists.

New Three Things Thursday - why your rental losses are stuck, and what it actually takes to unstick them:

1️⃣ Rental real estate is passive by default. Always. Passive losses can only offset passive income - not your wages, not your business income. There's a limited $25,000 exception, but it phases out starting at $100,000 of income and has never been inflation-adjusted since 1986.

2️⃣ Real Estate Professional Status (REPS) is the gateway that converts rental losses to non-passive. But it requires more than 50% of your total working hours in real estate AND 750+ hours annually — and married couples can't combine hours. You still need material participation in each property.

3️⃣ REPS is a specific tool for a specific problem — not a master key. It doesn't override basis limitations, your Realtor® spouse doesn't qualify you, and it won't survive audit without documentation. Section 162 status is a lower bar for some issues, but it opens the QBID door in both directions — profitable years and loss years. You don't get to choose.

If you own rental real estate - or you're planning to - these distinctions matter.

▶️ Watch our video for more

04/08/2026

𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝗨𝗽 - 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝘂𝗹𝗲𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗔𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗧𝗮𝘅 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲

Here's something most people don't know: under federal tax law, if you mail a tax return or payment and the postmark is on or before the due date, the IRS considers it on time — even if it arrives later. That's been the rule for decades.

The problem? The U.S. Postal Service quietly changed how postmarks work, effective December 24, 2025.

**Here's what changed.**

Under the old system, your postmark reflected the day you dropped something in a mailbox or handed it to a postal worker. Under the new rules, the postmark isn't applied until your mail reaches an automated processing facility — and that could be one to three days *after* you actually mailed it.

Drop a return in a blue mailbox on Wednesday and your mail doesn't hit a processing facility until Friday? Your postmark reads Friday, not Wednesday. If your deadline was Thursday, you just filed late — even though the envelope left your hands before the deadline.

**Who this affects most:**

- Anyone mailing a return, extension request, or tax payment close to a deadline
- Taxpayers in rural areas (mail travels further before it hits a processing facility)
- Anyone filing paper-only forms like Form W-7 or Form 706

**What to do instead:**

1. **File and pay electronically whenever possible.** You get instant confirmation and zero postmark risk. This is the cleanest solution.

2. **If you must mail something close to a deadline, go inside the post office.** Don't use the blue box. Walk up to the counter and use Certified Mail, Registered Mail, or ask for a Postage Validation Imprint. This gives you a receipt that proves your mailing date.

3. **A stamp and a mailbox is no longer enough protection near a deadline.** That's the short version.

**The bottom line:**

This change flew under the radar, but the IRS didn't update the rules to match — a postmark that's one day late is still a late filing. The penalty exposure is real. April 15 is a week away. If you're mailing anything to the IRS between now and then, take the extra five minutes and do it right.

Questions? Drop a comment below.

04/02/2026

Most people think April 15th is the finish line.

It isn't.

New Three Things Thursday is live — and this one is timely.

Three things that happen after April 15th that nobody warned you about:

1️⃣ April 15th is two deadlines in one. Your return and your Q1 estimated tax payment are both due the same day. Miss Q1 while focused on the return, and you start the new quarter already behind.

2️⃣ There are two different IRS penalties — and most people don't know the difference. Failure-to-file is 5% per month. Failure-to-pay is 0.5% per month. If you can't pay, file anyway. The failure-to-file penalty is ten times more expensive per month.

3️⃣ If you filed an extension, the same rules apply at October 15th. Payment was still due April 15th. October 15th has the same teeth.

Whether you filed, extended, or are still figuring it out — these distinctions are worth two minutes of your time this week.

▶️ Watch our Three Things Thursday for April 2 2026.

03/26/2026

Most business owners assume their LLC or S-corp protects them from personal tax exposure.

For most things, it does.

Payroll taxes are the exception - and it's a significant one.

When you withhold federal taxes from an employee's paycheck, those funds are held in trust on the government's behalf. The IRS has a specific tool called the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty that bypasses your entity entirely and lands the liability on you personally. It doesn't go away in bankruptcy either.

IRS Criminal Investigation's February Tax Case of the Month: a Kentucky business owner sentenced to four years in prison and $22.1 million in restitution for failing to remit withheld payroll taxes over a five-year period.

Most payroll tax problems start much smaller - a rough quarter, a plan to catch up, a window that closes faster than expected.

This week's 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆 covers what business owners need to understand before a cash flow problem becomes a federal one. Watch now - it's worth the 8 minutes.

03/19/2026

𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁

Most business owners fill in the "registered agent" box when they form their LLC - and never think about it again.

That's exactly the problem.

In this week's 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆, I cover three things every business owner and real estate investor should know about registered agents:

✅ What it actually is (not just a form field)
✅ Why acting as your own is riskier than you think
✅ Why the cost math makes this a no-brainer

If you've ever formed an LLC, transferred property into an entity, or expanded into a new state - this one's worth 6 minutes.

03/05/2026

𝗔 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝘂𝗹𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 - 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻’𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝘆𝗲𝘁.

This week’s 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆 covers a new federal reporting rule affecting certain residential real estate transactions involving LLCs, trusts, and private financing.

Most everyday homebuyers won’t notice a difference, but investors should understand how transparency expectations are changing.

In this short video we explain three key points:

• Why hard money may trigger reporting
• Why there’s 𝗻𝗼 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗺𝘂𝗺 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱
• Why closing professionals usually handle the reporting

Watch the full video here:

👉 https://youtu.be/n92r9iQInVk

A new federal reporting rule quietly went into effect in March 2026 affecting certain residential real estate transactions involving LLCs, trusts, and privat...

03/05/2026

𝗔 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝘂𝗹𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 - 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻’𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝘆𝗲𝘁.

This week’s 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆 covers a new federal reporting rule that quietly took effect affecting certain real estate transactions.

If you invest using LLCs, trusts, or hard money financing, this is something you should at least be aware of.

In this short video we explain three things investors should understand:

• Why hard money and private financing may be treated as “non-financed” transactions
• Why there is 𝗻𝗼 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗺𝘂𝗺 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱
• Why the buyer usually 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁

The goal here isn’t alarm - just awareness.

Take three minutes and watch the breakdown below.